Story+1984-08-29+Largo,+MD

‘‘Oh, thanks, we´re gonna be playing a long time so you guys can sit down....got a long show....this is uh….this song, I guess is….I remember when I was a kid, the hardest thing….that I could do was trying to understand my parents and trying to get them to understand me and uh….I guess for a long time that didn’t happen, I guess, kind of ‘cause I used to treat ‘em a little bit like they were the livingroom furniture….and they used to kind of treat me like I’d dropped in from Mars or something (chuckles) but uh…. then my dad got real sick about a year ago and went in the hospital….and it gave me a minute to think about all the things that I wanted to say to him that I hadn´t said to him… I guess sometimes it just takes time…..”
 * 29.08.84 Largo, MD, intro to ‘Independence Day’**

´´Now, before....before I wanted to be....a guitar player....originally I wanted to be a baseball player...I started when I was real young.....was gonna practise....started in the Colonial League...then the Little League...then into the Babe Ruth League....and by about that time I had amassed a career total batting average of at least .156....but I didn´t let that stop me.... but I got to be around 15, was my last year in Babe Ruth League and I started to get interested in several other things....now, one of ´em was the guitar....so I started to play in this band and we were going out on the weekend and we were doing these shows and things and then the baseball games were during the week so it was working out ok.... but then one week we had a rained-out game and they rescheduled it for Saturday morning, 8.30....so, I didn´t worry about it, I figured, well....Saturday morning came around, I´d been out late the night before....and I told my mother, I said ´Look, Mom, when the guys come around....you go downstairs, you tell ´em sick, I´m too sick and I can´t go´....I was about, I was losing my commitment to the sport around this time....and so like every good mother, she goes down and lies for her son (chuckles)....tells ´em I can´t come, you know, and they go away....but they come back in about 20 minutes.... and they say....oh, I can hear ´em down at the door, ´Oh, Mrs. Springsteen, Mrs.Springsteen....we only got eight guys and if Bruce don´t come, we´re gonna forfeit the game , it´s gonna be the end of the season´....so I´m laying in bed and I´m listening to all this, you know, and my mother sends ´em upstairs....so, now, now I gotta make believe like I´m really sick.....so I´m laying there....my bedroom looks just like this....I always sleep with my guitar too.....my girlfriends, they don´t like it but they get used to it.... sometimes it sleeps on the outside....but I´m.....I´m laying there in bed , like, you know, making all these sick noises (coughs), you know, and they´re up there and like I´m doing my best acting job....but they´re begging me and they´re begging me and I´m one of those people that ´soon as peope start begging me, I can´t say no....so (chuckles) so ...I get my uniform on and I go down to the field....and...they put me out in right field....my permanent position.....and I was standing out there and it was kind of a nice day and I was starting to feel pretty good and....the game was going along and nobody was hitting nothing to me.....and I started to daydream.....I dreamed there was a girl....she climbed over the fence....she was coming out into the ballfield....she was, she was.... phhhhhh ! ....and a big ´E´ lights up on the scoreboard.....anyway, that was when I decided....to give up my sports career in order to dedicate myself to rock´n´roll....and I haven´t regretted it since....but anyway, you always meet somebody out there who starts telling you about old, old stories....are you ready, boys?....here we go.....”
 * 29.08.84 Largo, MD, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´This is uh....everybody needs some place to go when they can´t go home.....”
 * 29.08.84 Largo, MD, intro to ´The River´**

´´Oh, thank you, thanks....this is a song that was, uh.....originally done by Elvis Presley ...it´s about....finding something you can hold on to and then being able to hold on to it....”
 * 29.08.84 Largo, MD, intro to ´Follow That Dream´**

´´Once upon a time.....a long, long time ago..... (....) Now there I was....I was still in school....but I wasn´t getting anywhere....didn´t know what I wanted to be, didn´t know what I wanted to do....and so....after getting into bunch of trouble, my teacher sent me down to see the guidance counsellor....so I went down to see the guidance counsellor and I said ´Sir, I don´t know what I wanna do, I don´t know who I am, I don´t know where I wanna go, I got no faith, I got no hope´ and he said ´That´s too big a problem for me, you better go home and talk to your folks´....so I went home....I went in the kitchen, my dad was sitting at the kitchen table, I said ´I don´t know who I am, I don´t know what I wanna do, I got no faith, I got no hope´, he said ´Get me another beer out of the icebox´....so now I was getting desperate so I went to see the priest....I knocked on his door....I came in (?) I said ´Father, I don´t know who I am, I don´t know what I wanna do, I got no faith, I got no hope´, he said ´Well, stop playing and start praying´, I said ´No, no, no´....so I went out and I was in Asbury Park.....and I was, and I was in this little club and I went in the men´s room and on the wall it said ´Advice. Call this number. Can solve any problem, no matter how big´ so I got a dime, I went out to the payphone, put the number in, dialled, the phone rang once, twice and then I heard (Clarence: ´Hello´)....and he gave me an address and I went over and met Clarence....so Clarence said I had a big problem but that he thought he could handle it, he knew this gypsy lady that lived way out in the pines....and if we went and visited, she might help us out.....so we got in his Oldsmobile and we drove south down Route 9.... through Freehold....through Lakewood....through Tom´s River....it was raining, a storm was blowing, it started snowing, a heatwave hit (chuckles) everything was happening to us and then we pulled over to the side of the road and we saw this deep forest....and into the forest we went....it was scary in there....there were noises coming from everyplace..... sounded like a bunch of werewolves (crowd howls) or maybe, uh, lions (crowd roars) or some dangerous cows (crowd moos) or some wild pigs (cheers) it was wild....Big Man.... there ain´t nothing gonna hurt us here or anything ?....tell me we´re gonna be safe here....I mean there ain´t no, I think I hear something behind us.....and there it was, it was this big grizzly bear but he seemed kind of friendly, I could tell by the way he wore his hat that he was smarter than the average bear....and he said....yeah, he said that he didn´t wanna hurt nobody but he was just lonely out here in the woods all the time and if we´d be friends with him, he´d think he could solve our problems....so into the woods he took us.....and there in the clearing....the moonlit shone down.....and then all of a sudden I knew everything was gonna be alright.....and when we touched....”
 * 29.08.84 Largo, MD, intro to ´Growin´Up´**

´´Wait a minute....ladies and gentlemen.....on the piano, Professor Roy Bittan....on the bass, Mr.Garry W.Tallent....on the vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa....on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg.....on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici....and the newest member of the E Street Band....Jim the Dancing Bear....don´t worry, folks, he´s completely docile....and on the guitar.....a hometown boy....Mr.Nils Lofrgren.....last but not least...the master of the universe....the emperor of all things....the king of the known world....the one, the only, gimme a C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell ? what´s that spell ? what´s that spell ? Clarence Big Man Clemons on the saxophone.....”
 * 29.08.84 Largo, MD, middle of ´Rosalita´**

´´(?)...and uh, I guess when I was a kid, the first thing that, that kind of meant anything to me was when I heard the music of Elvis Presley and....it just kind of set my mind free a little bit so I could maybe dream bigger things that I normally would´ve dreamed....but uh ....I´m kind of lucky, I get to live my dream out every night, here´s hoping you get to live, live yours out....”
 * 29.08.84 Largo, MD, intro to ´Born to Run´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//